Related links

A glance at almost any box score from this season will tell you the type of player Chaz Williams is. But that doesn't tell you the impact the sophomore guard has made for UMass this season.

That impact was on full display Tuesday night --- on national television, nonetheless --- as Williams, the diminutive point guard, powered the Minutemen to a thrilling, 101-96, double-overtime win over Mississippi State in the first round of the NIT.

As the ESPN2 audience saw, Williams is a gamechanger. A playmaker. A player who makes his team better in so many ways.

Williams scored a team-high 28 points, and had eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals in a team-high 48 minutes. He was 4-of-7 from beyond the 3-point line, including a dagger late in the second overtime that put the Minutemen up five points with 2:00 to play.

For the season, Williams leads the team in scoring (16.7 points per game), steals (79), assists (218) and is third in rebounding despite being a generous 5-foot-9.

Against Temple at the end the regular season, Williams scored a game-high 26 points with 11 assists and eight rebounds. In a late-February win over perennial conference power Xavier, Williams had a career-high 29 points, nine assists and five rebounds.

There were a number of other terrific efforts from the redshirt sophomore transfer throughout the season, but perhaps his greatest contribution to the turnaround season for the Minutemen --- along with his impact over the next two highly-anticipated years --- is in the way he makes his teammates better.

The assists, of course, are one thing, and they shouldn't be discounted. But his overall ability to spread the floor, impact the game in so many ways and bring life to UMass basketball is the full story on Chaz Williams.

Comparing the production and impact of players like Raphiael Putney, Sean Carter, Javorn Farrell, Jesse Morgan and Terrell Vinson this season to the production they provided in previous years, it's clear they have all found their full potential this year. Williams is undoubtedly to thank for that.

Williams and the Minutemen move on in the NIT and will face top-seeded Seton Hall, which nearly got into the NCAA Tournament before being one of the last bubble teams left out.